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Tuscan Serenade

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Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Fauré (scored. Percy Aldridge Grainger; ed. Brion and Maldonado)


This work bears the designation Opus 3, Number 2.


General Info

Year: 1865 (?) / 1937 / 1994
Duration: c. 3:30
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Voice and piano
Publisher: G & M Brand
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $85.00   |   Score Only (print) - $12.50


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo/Flute
Oboe
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Marimba


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) reveals himself most fully in his songs, which number nearly 100. They include Après une Rêvé, (1865) and Clair de Lune (1887).

Tuscan Serenade, like Après une Rêvé, is a setting of an Italian poem, translated into French by Romain Bussine, himself a singer. It was published in 1879 and Faure set it at some point during the preceding ten years. (Scholars differ as to the exact date.)

Grainger heightens the contrast between verses: he scores the first as a euphonium solo, but scores the second for band; the euphonium takes the accompaniment, returning to the fore for the last, crucial, four lines. His instrumental color concept is as strong as ever in this score; who else but Grainger would have asked for "Harps, Pianos, Marimbas" played "massed if possible," thus capturing the mood of Tuscany as well as the content?

- Program Note from score


Grainger met Fauré for the first time in 1908. In March of that year, Fauré was staying in London with the artist John Singer Sargent and a meeting with Grainger was arranged. In a letter to Roger Quilter dated March 25, 1908, Grainger quoted Fauré’s reaction to his music: “Il a beaucoup de flamme . . . C’est une energie suprême.” Grainger reciprocated with these comments about Fauré (from the same letter): “The more I see of him, the kinder and more lovable I find him . . . . he can be a great genius, sometimes, it seems to me.”

Grainger had set two other vocal works by Fauré for solo piano dating from the same period as the Tuscan Serenade. Not surprisingly, given the admiration Grainger had for Fauré and his music, he would eventually score the Tuscan Serenade for the band at the Interlochen Music Camp during the summer of 1937.

- Program Note from liner notes of Mark CD "The Music of Percy Grainger, Volume IV


Media


State Ratings

  • Virginia: V


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Fauré, G.; Grainger, P. (1994). Tuscan Serenade [score]. G&M Brand Publications: Wingrave, Bucks, England.
  • Perusal score
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